I wanted to get both normal and GoPro video to expand my editing skills. The idea was to shoot them eating with both cameras and synchronize the videos in editing. This would allow me to switch back and forth between the two views. I placed the GoPro on the tripod and set it up as close as possible. I think the close focus point is about 12 inches. Then I put my Panasonic TM700k on my mono-pod and strapped it to the rear tripod legs. It took a while to get things stable and composed the way I wanted it.

I was able to synchronize the 2 video clips within one frame of each other. That pretty close. You would never be able to notice, especially since the scene transitions take several frames. Here is the final video in HD that I posted on Youtube:

Here is a second video that I made the following day with just the TM700k:

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After I got home to review the video and stills(frame every 2 seconds with the GoPro), nothing looked good. Then I saw the last still, as I turned the camera off. Just a little tweak in ACR and …

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That initial brood of the season did not survive unfortunately. They were killed as they fledged by the neighborhood bullies, our local flock of crows.  But, three chicks made it out of the next batch of five.

We have been feeding the fledglings live meal worms fairly regularly(Thanks to Kyle and Joe at our local Wild Birds Unlimited). They actually expect their daily meal around 5:00 p.m. every day. When my wife(Susan) goes to put the worms out, there they are, patiently waiting on the roof line of the house next door, or on our chimney.

I positioned my GoPro on the split rail fence as close as I could get to the feeder. The camera is set up to take a photo every 2 seconds. So, after each session I have quite a few frames to sort through, looking for the keepers. One thing I learned was that the closest focus for my GoPro HD HERO2 is 12 inches. Unfortunately the closest bird in some of the shots is definitely out of focus. Even with the focus issues, I still like the results. I’ll just have  to remember this when composing the shot next time.

Recently I purchased the GoPro Wi-Fi BacPac + Wi-Fi Remote Combo Kit, which I’m hoping will make this kind of shoot much easier. This will allow me to trigger the camera remotely whenever the birds are in the shot. In this case I had over 1000 frames to sort through. I edited it down to 200-300 frames with actual birds in them. The final edit was about 10 keepers.

For the first couple of weeks after leaving the nest, the parents would stuff their beaks with worms and carry them into the trees where the fledglings were hiding out. Eventually the father was able to coax them over to the feeder. He still had to feed them. At the time of this shoot, they were still not getting the idea. they would actually stand on top of the worms, with their mouth open, waiting for the father to come feed them. But, eventually they got the idea and have been able to feed themselves.

The following shots show some of the “learning” process these babies went through:

This final shot was processed in Adobe Photoshop CS5Camera Raw, using some presets that are part of PhotoTools Professional Edition from onOne Software.

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The Setup

I also decided at the last-minute to add my GoPro HD HERO2 to the mix. It was time I recorded one of these photo sessions for use here on my blog. Maybe this will be helpful for those trying to shoot a similar subject or when using the same equipment combination. I started with the setup shown. This is the first time I’ve attempted anything like this, so be kind. It’s not perfect. It’s going to be a work in progress.

The idea was to capture some video. But more importantly was to record the audio of  the shoot. I’ve always wanted to hear what the photographer thinks about while working on a photograph. These are the kinds of insights that you can only get during a workshop.

The idea behind this photograph was to capture as much detail as possible, hence the use of HDR. The audio was recorded by the GoPro through the non-watertight door, so it is not the best quality. After doing this, I can see myself getting an external microphone, maybe even a wireless lavalier. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with your feedback and/or suggestions. Enjoy…

The Shoot

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Paying Attention

Sometimes it’s good to just start shooting if you do not have a specific subject in mind. I wandered around shooting flowers, rocks and the overall scene, hoping that I would find something interesting. I see this glass ball everyday, so it’s become just part of the scenery for me. Sort of, in sight, out of mind. After about 30 to 40 minutes of shooting, and not getting anything very exciting, it hit me. I just happened to glance over at the ball to see the sky reflected and the wonderful colors of the glass sparkling. I’m a sucker for contrast in movement. It can be the stillness of a rock in a flowing stream, or someone moving against a static background. But this was different, contrast in the normal sense.

The Shot

The sun was below the horizon, making the lighting very even and warm. I setup my Canon 5D, Lensbaby Composer Pro with the Double-Optic and an f/5.6 aperture ring. The camera was on a tripod with a remote shutter release. I walked around shooting some flowers while changing attachements on the Lensbaby. Everything from wide angle, telephoto and macro add-on lenses were tried. The standard lens was what I ended up with( go figure…).

The base exposure was set using medium spot metering at ISO 100 in Av mode. Once the base was found, I shot exposures from -3 to +4 stops. I used Photoshop CS5′s HDR tool to merge the exposures and came up with this:

HDR image from 8 exposures, one stop apart( -3, 0, +4 ).

I made sure that the reflections of the sky were not over blown and that the details remained everywhere else. This is an unrealistic interpretation, but I like it. Can’t wait to print this on metallic paper.

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This weekend I decided to get an old-fashioned reel mower just for the courtyard. It really works amazingly well, and it only takes 5 minutes to cut. What a Fathers Day this is going to be…

Time to get “reel” about cutting the grass in the courtyard…

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